Minnesota State Wire

Pequot Lakes School District 186 parents are speaking out against what they see as Superintendent Chris Lindholm’s misguided vision for the district.

“So we first came to notice something was a little off when some parents started sharing this YouTube video made by our superintendent,” local mom Mariah Hines told Minnesota State Wire. “It was made for a government agency in Minnesota, state government agency called Region Five for a project called Rural Reveal. Basically in this video, he was very demeaning towards our small town. He said that he moved here from Minneapolis eight or seven years ago and was really distraught by how racist and bigoted we were. And he knows that his previous neighbors in the cities who were gay and biracial couples, they wouldn't have been accepted here. And he goes on to basically say that and that upset the community members because we don't think that we're a bigoted, racist community.”

In the video, Lindholm joins other district leaders in calling for what they deem the enactment of equity practices into staff development. Throughout the video, he shares his perception and experiences of the Pequot Lakes community since arriving there in 2013. He pointed to efforts at the district level aimed at involving teachers in diversity training through the National SEED Project and what he described as positive outcomes resulting from this work.

The development comes on the heels of parents being upset about they see as the local school district having secretly imposed a race-based curriculum that tells students white people have privilege and are systemically racist.  At least some of the material comes from the SEED program.

Hines and others argue it’s all part of the community getting a reputation they insist isn’t earned. 

“He goes on to basically say that and that upset the community members because we don't think that we're a bigoted, racist community,” she added. ”And he goes on to saying that he got a few key people in places and he knew that if he made a big push for equality, that he would be met with public pushback that he slowly planted. Obviously, we are a majority white community. We don't have any problems with other races or anything like that. But we also don't want our children being taught that being white is bad, or if you're white, you're automatically an oppressor.”